Current Events

article: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/obama-on-social-security-changes/?scp=2&sq=Social%20Security%20Act%20Today&st=Search

other site that helped: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Act_of_1965

Summarize: Obama and McCain dispute over the changes in the Social Security Act guidelines: helpful cuts for the elderly is playing a huge role in this debate, and bettering the system in general. Obama wants to make changes in the Social Security Act, mainly focusing on the elderly: if they have an income of $50,000 a year or less, he believes the income tax shouldn't apply to these people, meanwhile he wants to place a limit on the payroll tax. These two changes that Obama wants to make greatly differ from McCain's. McCain did support private accounts for Social Security which is what the American people had under George W. Bush and this isn't a very reliant system. McCain states that the system doesn't need to be changed, and the guidelines for the elderly in place already are enough.

Analyze: When the Social Security Act was first introduced in 1935 it didn't have any coverage that had to do with medical benefits, but it did give the American people benefits such as old - age pensions, unemployment reimbursement, and helped blind children. Since 1935 the Social Security Act has played a huge role in American society, and has attempted to benefit the elderly. To this day, as shown in the article, elders are still being cared for and there are still kinks in the system that need to be worked out. The history of the Social Security Act goes on for eternity, but each administration has tried to improve the act. This goes to show how the New Deal still effects Americans today; if the Social Security Act wasn't created in the New Deal, then we might not have it today, or we may not have critiqued it to such a level. Overall, it's quite obvious how Acts of the New Deal are still in place in society today.